Yes, there are free reports, like the report owl.ly (we’ll talk about it again) but the others are $ 50! Difficult to swallow for an SME or a Freelance. The integration with Google Analytics is very useful, and the Facebook report is much better than what Facebook provides you.

Another thing: since Hootsuite uses its own URL shorten, it will only track clicks on links generated by Hootsuite. If you use another social media tool like Buffer or Sprout Social, Hootsuite will not follow your links from these tools.

# 2 Obligation to use Owly

What would you do without URL shorteners? They appeared because people wanted to add links to their Tweets without taking up too much space. Later, the shortcuts began to offer tracking services, and they also offer the benefit of counting how many clicks were made to the link (and follow the info about the person who clicked, such as their location , his browser …). Hootsuite has its own shorteners, ow.ly and ht.ly. It’s understandable, but you have to use them unless you add your own shortener – I’ll talk about it later.

By using the Hootsuite shortener, you give everyone the information you use Hootsuite (which, in all honesty, is the case with other shorteners too), and you will only be able to track clicks on the links that have been added from Hootsuite. As mentioned above, it’s a real problem if you use other services like Buffer, SocialOomph or even TweetDeck. You will then pay for reports that will ultimately not be complete. If you use other scanning services like SumAll, bit.ly, or Buffer, then they will not show you the clicks on the links from Hootsuite. You could completely compile separate reports, spend hours and hours … but it’s complicated.

A wish from Hootsuite? Maybe they want to keep you, discourage you from using other services. For some, it’s not a big problem. For large companies that use Twitter to do customer service, Hootsuite will be the best solution – yes because in these cases, they do not need to use Buffer or TwitPic. However if you use multiple services, too bad …

# 3 Personalized shortcutters that are expensive

This does not affect everyone, but if you want a custom URL shortener, you will not be disappointed.

I’m using a custom shortener for the links I share on social networks – to.iag.me for my blog and select.social for my business. It personalizes my links and makes them more professional and clickable. I use bit.ly which allows me to add my custom URL for free. Of course you have to pay for the domain, but nowadays it is not very expensive. For those who wish to build their own url shortner, it’s here .

Hootsuite offers a custom shortener: it costs $ 49.99. PER MONTH. That means that in the year, it costs you $ 588.88 in addition to the cost of the domain name! If you pay year round, you will get a discount and pay $ 539.88. It’s crazy … at this point, keep in mind that it will still pay to get reports.

According to a reader’s commentary, Lauren Lawton Perfors, custom URLs can only be used in the computer version of Hootsuite, not in mobile apps. So although you have paid more than $ 500 a year, you can not work on mobile. And you can only use this URL with Hootsuite, not in Buffer, Sprout Social, OktoPost etc …

I’ve talked to several people at Hootsuite, and although the bit.ly integration has been a topic of discussion internally, the idea has been abandoned. No doubt it does not matter to their business. Too bad. If Hootsuite integrated bit.ly, I will be their biggest supporter!

# 4 Problem with Facebook images

(No preview in Facebook in some situations)

If you post a link on your Facebook page, those with photos are more likely to generate clicks than a simple link with text. When you post a Text status or use the programming tool via Hootsuite, you will get the thumbnail and the summary. This comes from the Open-Graph tags on the web page or something close to it. However if you are planning in bulk (from a .csv file) or using an RSS feed, it’s done. Facebook only receives text as a status that looks like a tweet.

I contacted Hootsuite about this, and they responded very quickly. ” Yes, that’s fine, if you are planning a publication you can choose the image preview and it will be posted. However, this does not work with RSS feeds and batch planning, you can submit this idea on our forum . ” I also received a response to a Tweet saying that this would probably not be added in the future for ” logistical reasons “.

# 5 No data in Facebook statistics

That’s a reason that was suggested to me in the comments by Barbara Karnes: When you post new content on Facebook via Hootsuite, these posts do not follow the likes, shares and comments you’ve received for this publication in the analytical data of Facebook. They exist when you see them in Facebook, on your wall, but they are not saved anywhere in the statistics.

# 6 The problem of Edge Rank

Update: It seems that the EdgeRank is not (more?) Affected when publishing from an application. That may have been the case, but most people do not see it as a problem anymore. I leave this “reason” here for posterity.

This does not affect only Hootsuite, but keep in mind that some people have seen a significant drop in visibility of their Facebook posts when they use a third-party application to publish. Although the EdgeRank is not supposed to be affected, many say it is. Now that Facebook has its own planning system, maybe it’s better to use Facebook?

# 7 Dear to use for teams

Team use is one of the most exciting features Hootsuite has to offer. It allows multiple team members to access multiple social networks without having to know all the passwords. This is very important from a security point of view and that’s why so many big companies use Hootsuite. If you use Twitter for customer service, being able to assign tasks to a colleague is crucial for you. Hootsuite Pro and Enterprise are rather accessible for big companies that work this way. However, for small businesses, Hootsuite will be too expensive.

I felt that the extra members (on a pro account) cost $ 9.99 per month but on closer inspection it is not that easy. You receive 2 users per month with a Pro account (you are one of these 2 users). The 3rd user costs $ 9.99, and then all subsequent users up to 10 cost $ 14.99 per month each. So 10 users cost $ 1,800 a year. If you want 11 users, you will have to buy Hootsuite Enterprise, which costs – hang in there – $ 18,000 a year because the maximum for a pro account is 10 users. Here is a table that summarizes all the costs (since it is not very clear at Hootsuite)In 2013 Hootsuite began offering a discount for year-round payments. Note that Hootsuite now offers prices in different currencies, so if you are for example in France, you will be offered prices in €.

Conversion of British prices into dollars. Hootsuite now offers prices in different currencies. If you live in England, you will pay in pounds sterling (and for France, in euros). This is determined by your IP address. Unfortunately the prices are higher. You could try to work around the problem by using a VPN to make you believe that you are in the US, clear your cookies, and then check in. But to make Hootsuite believe that you are American is moderately moral, say. Here is an indication of prices in pounds and their conversion to dollars. Note that exchange rates vary constantly, so double check them.

What can I use instead? Alternatives to Hootsuite

I always use Hootsuite for some tasks such as viewing different feeds from different accounts. This is something that Hootsuite is doing very well. However, here are some alternatives, depending on what you want to do …

View publication flows (and respond)

AgoraPulse (free trial, then from $ 29 / month)

A social networking tool for Twitter and Facebook (Attention, Instagram is coming soon!), Which aims to offer a management of social networks at low prices. In addition to Twitter and Facebook integration, you’ll be able to use a Facebook application catalog to increase engagement, a simple CRM tool, built- in reports (which you can export to PowerPoint), and more.

All plans include unlimited access per user (the price will not change if you are 1 administrator or 40!). It’s definitely cheaper than Hootsuite if you work in a team. A mobile application is under development.

MavSocial (free and starting from $ 30 per month)

A fairly new tool, MavSocial offers traditional features such as management, monitoring and publishing on multiple networks. However, it also offers unique things. In addition to supporting Facebook, Twitter and LInkedIn (profiles, pages and groups), MavSocial also ingests Tumblr and YouTube, as well as Japanese and Chinese networks Youku, Weibo and Renren with full support of international alphabets. MavSocial is also an online media manager that stores and manages all your images, videos and audit files that you can easily re-use in the future. Not only can you upload your own content but you can also acquire stock images directly in Mav Social, from different image banks, some of which are free. There is an integrated photo editor (similar to Canva) for editing these images. Finally, MavSocial allows you to publish videos directly to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and audio files to Twitter. This is very important when it comes to Facebook, since native videos have more visibility and engagement than those published on a third party platform like YouTube or Vimeo.

Oktopos t (free trial, then from $ 49 / month)

An impressive management tool, originally developed for Business to Business marketing. Oktopost supports Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn (profiles, companies, pages and groups) and Google+. Oktopost allows you to plan across multiple channels, including multiple LinkedIn groups, and using a release schedule. Instead of offering the ability to post over multiple networks, Oktopost allows you to manually prepare posts for different networks. There is a free trial and paid accounts range from $ 49 to $ 249 a month.

Sprout Social (starting at $ 59 / month)

A big competitor of Hootsuite, with very interesting features (good reports, integration of multiple bit.ly shorteners, Google+ pages etc) – however it is not cheap: prices start at $ 59 / user / month (c is new, before it was $ 39 / month) There is no free version but they offer a free one month trial.

Sendible (starting at $ 9.99 / month)

to 40 services. It’s a little complicated, because a Twitter list, a Twitter feed, a Twitter search feed, a Facebook group and a Facebook profile, are different services. You may find yourself running out of services very quickly.

TweetDeck (free) Since May 2013 – only Twitter management

It used to be one of my main recommendations, but Twitter did its best to make it uninteresting. TweetDeck once managed Facebook but now manages only Twitter. In addition, Twitter drops the Adobe Air version, which had more features.

GrabInbox (free)

Although basic, Grabinbox is free and allows you to manage multiple profiles and Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and LinkedIn profiles.

Meshfire ($ 8 / month per social network)

A network management tool with collaboration as a central point. Only support Twitter. Integrates with bit.ly and feedly. The prices were based on the number of followers before but they simplified things a lot and have only one plan.

Publish and plan

AgoraPulse (Free Trial, then starting at $ 29 / month) The publication calendar is available for your Facebook page and your Twitter account: you can therefore program your links, images and texts in a very simple and fast way.

Buffer App (Free or $ 9.99 / month)

Enables you to post to Twitter, Facebook (profiles, pages, groups), LinkedIn (profiles, groups or company pages), Google+ business pages or Appdotnet. You can either publish directly or create a schedule for each network. Buffer is an incredible tool that I use every day.

Friends + Me (free or from $ 9 / month)

Friends + Turns Goole + into a complete social networking tool. This allows you to post on Google+ Pages, Twitter, LinkedIn (profiles, pages and groups), Facebook (profiles, pages and groups), Tumblr and even Appdotnet. The planning system is similar to Buffer’s and publishes intelligently across multiple networks (this includes images, titles, and descriptions). I use it every day and I could not live without it!

Oktopost (from $ 49 / month) See above.

TweetDeck (free) See above.

MavSocial (Free plan and starting at $ 30 / month) See above.

Social media management tool

Commun.it (starting at $ 19.99 / month)

I must also recommend Commun.it, a complete Twitter or CRM community management tool. In addition to managing multiple Twitter accounts, you will be able to see who is relevant in your community – for example, influences or ambassadors. You can also see who is talking about you or your business or who is linking to your site, and interact with these people directly.

Still not sure of your choice? Try SocialPiq!

If you need a little more help finding the right tool for you, you can try this great service that is SocialPiq. All you need to do is enter your requirements into SocialPiq and you will receive a list of tools that may be right for you. And it’s free!

After that ?

Here are 7 reasons not to use Hootsuite. Maybe for you they will not be valid, but they are things that bothered me. Even so, I would still recommend Hootsuite to businesses in many situations – though they have the resources to pay for extras, especially for customer service. If you have questions, suggestions, or want to give your point of view, do not hesitate: there is no perfect tool and the best is probably the one you like to use!

Web Marketing Manager & Social Media at Agorapulse. Interested in Web Marketing, Social Media, Lead Gen and Lead Nurturing, … Also available to talk about Travels, Sports, Video games, Jedi, Volkswagen Combi, …